38 emailers flagged in Clinton inquiry
WASHINGTON -- The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.
The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were "culpable" in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton's personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Charles Grassley this week and released Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.
The investigation covered 33,000 emails that Clinton turned over for review after her use of the private email account became public. The department said it found a total of 588 violations involving information then or now deemed to be classified but could not assign fault in 497 cases.
For current and former officials, culpability means the violations will be noted in their files and will be considered when they apply for or go to renew security clearances. For current officials, there could also be some kind of disciplinary action. But it was not immediately clear what that would be.
Although the report identified violations, it said investigators had found "no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information."
However, it also made clear that Clinton's use of the private email had increased the vulnerability of classified information.
1,400 pharmacists' test scores voided
LOS ANGELES -- California authorities have invalidated test scores of 1,400 pharmacists because more than 100 questions from the state licensing exam were leaked online.
The State Board of Pharmacy has decided that anyone who took the exam since July will have to retake it, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
"We are fully aware of how destructive it's been for them, but we're a consumer protection agency," said board spokesman Bob Davila. "We want to make sure that anyone who does get a license in California is in fact competent to take care of California patients."
The board became aware of potential widespread cheating in September and decided to withhold test results for those who recently took the exam.
It announced this week that those results will be invalidated and that people can retake the test on Nov. 16 or Nov. 17 with the $30 fee waived.
"The board sincerely regrets that the actions of some are negatively impacting the lives of many," a board statement said. "The board must, however, address the impact of the subversion on the examination's validity."
Felling 2 N. Orleans' cranes delayed
NEW ORLEANS -- Plans were pushed back a day Friday on taking down two giant, unstable construction cranes in a series of controlled explosions in New Orleans. The cranes, damaged last weekend in a building collapse, are in danger of toppling onto historic buildings in the city, the city's fire chief said Friday. He noted the risky work involved in placing explosives.
With the possibility of winds picking up because of a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, officials had hoped to take the cranes down Friday, but Fire Chief Tim McConnell said it would likely be today.
Intermittent rain and winds were complicating efforts Friday as workers in buckets suspended from another crane worked to prepare the site, McConnell said.
"Winds pick up too high -- and obviously they're much higher at those elevations -- it slows us down," he said.
Three people died when a Hard Rock Hotel building under construction at the edge of the French Quarter partially collapsed last Saturday morning. One body was recovered, but the bodies of two construction workers remain in the unstable wreckage.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell cited the collapsed building and the coming storm in declaring a state of emergency Thursday that empowers police to "commandeer or utilize any private property," force people out of dangerous areas and suspend the sale or transport of alcohol and firearms, among other measures. Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in the city Friday.
ACT test cheating lands dad in prison
BOSTON -- A California real estate developer was sentenced Friday to one month in prison for paying $75,000 to cheat on his daughter's college entrance exam.
Robert Flaxman, 63, of Los Angeles was sentenced in Boston's federal court after pleading guilty in May to a single count of fraud and conspiracy. He is the 10th parent to be sentenced in a widespread college bribery scheme.
Authorities say Flaxman paid $75,000 to have a test proctor feed his daughter answers on her ACT exam in 2016. She scored a 28 out of 36 on the test, placing her in the 89th percentile and improving 4 points over her previous score on the exam.
Flaxman's daughter used the score to apply to several schools and ultimately enrolled at one of them, prosecutors said. They did not identify where she goes to college but said the school suspended her for a semester when the scheme was uncovered.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 10/19/2019